By Elias Dounis on October 14th, 2004

Although its popularity has diminished drastically over the past two decades, Robotech is still one of the most beloved and recognized animes in North America. Of course, there are many issues amongst fans of the series and anime purists who believe that Robotech hacked together three similar, yet different animes into one large saga, but it cannot be denied that what Harmony Gold put on TV airwaves in 1985 was revolutionary. If it wasn’t for this animated sci-fi space drama, it’s arguable that shows like Lupin the Third, Cowboy Bebop, and Trigun would have never appeared on North American television. And even though Robotech is not as popular as it once was, it’s still popular enough to be a marketable franchise for a videogame.

In 2002, Vicious Cycle delivered a cel-shaded space shooter by the name of Robotech: Battlecry to fans all across the globe. Battlecry, which had also been the studio’s first game, had been quite the success story. Not only was it a successful venture for Vicious Cycle, but it had also been the very first Robotech videogame to be well accepted by critics, fans, and gamers alike. As you could imagine, fans were left beckoning for more, and their cries have been answered once again by the talented individuals at Vicious Cycle with a game by the name of Robotech: Invasion

Not Your Traditional Sequel
Most players would suspect that they would be treated to a traditional sequel with Robotech: Invasion. If that were true, then we would be playing another cel-shaded, flight-centered shooter like Robotech: Battlecry, but that’s a "what if" scenario. Invasion is just as different compared to Battlecry as New Generation is to Macross.

For those who don’t know, New Generation is the third and final series of Robotech’s initial run, and is also the series in which Invasion takes place in. Macross, the first and most popular Robotech series, is the series of which Battlecry has been based on. The differences? Well, Macross mostly took place in outer space, and in the series Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Minmei and the rest of the Robotech Expeditionary Forces (R.E.F) fought against the giant Zentraedi aliens. The war had been massive; it nearly destroyed human life as we know it, and actually ended on a somewhat peaceful note. Now, New Generation revolves around the Invid Invasion. The Invid are the most powerful beings in Robotech. Sure, the Zentraedi were powerful giants, and the Robotech Masters of the second series were extremely intelligent, but the Invid were so

There are many ways in which Invasion differs from Battlecry. In Invasion, Vicious Cycle has dropped the cel-shaded graphics style in favor of a style that is more realistic and, in all truth, more fitting. Also, the game no longer takes place in the air, but instead on the ground with gameplay that is centered on elements seen in modern third person and first person shooters. No aerial gameplay means that there are no Veritech fighters. The game instead features the ultra-cool transformable cyclone motorcycles from New Generation, which act not only as a means of transportation, but also as body armor used to fight off the powerful Invid horde. Not only this, but Invasion also features an online multi-player for up to eight players.

Getting Accustomed
Invasion allows for many user customizations. In the game, players can change, at any time during gameplay, the perspective of play to either third or first person perspectives. The best choice? Well, I would assume that personal preferences will determine each person’s choice, although, I feel that the third person perspective is best suited for the game’s action. Other customization options allow for players to mess around with the game’s controller sensitivity and HUD display, amongst a few other trivial features. Take note, that you’ll actually have to play around with these settings. It seems that the default settings of the controller sensitivities and HUD displays aren’t too comfortable to work with. In particular, the game’s HUD takes up a large portion of the screen, so it would be wise to make it only a tad bit visible by adjusting its transparency settings.

Being a console third person shooter, you would assume that Robotech: Invasion includes some sort of auto-aim feature. If you indeed assumed this, you’d be correct. The form of auto-aim that is included in Invasion is much like that of Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime. In other words, the game features a lock-on mechanism. Pressing the L trigger will lock onto the nearest enemy, but when doing this, another crosshair will appear within the locked area. This tiny red crosshair allows for players to target a smaller area, specifically in the vicinity of the cycloptic eye of an Invid invader. Why the eye? Well, the eye is the weak point of all Invid. A successful shot to their eye will cause a significant amount of damage, sometimes meaning instant death with a well placed shot from a sniper rifle. It’d be wise for any player to target an Invid’s eye. If not, you’ll have to blast through that heavy armor of theirs, sometimes even blasting off their crab-like limbs in the process. So does this lock-on feature work accordingly? After getting accustomed, it’ll prove to be very useful and functional, so yes.

I have witnessed a few complaints about how the actual cyclones control in the game, and I believe they’ve all been taken way out of proportion. The cyclones handle very well. It’s all a matter of players learning to use the handbrake to make sharp turns, or even a complete 180 degree turnaround. If you choose not use the handbrake, of course there are going to be difficulties controlling the cyclone. But as it is, the cyclones handle efficiently, and are a player’s best bet when wanting to squeeze of tight situations or wanting to travel long distances in a shorter amount of time (except in close corridors; the game restricts cyclone use in these areas).

It’s pretty much a given that the cyclones are extremely fun to use, but to prevent players from spending their time completely in cyclone mode than in there battle armor, the cyclone’s physical defenses aren’t that strong, whereas body armor has a strong, regenerative shield much like that of Master Chief’s in Halo. Because of this, and the variety in powerful weapons that players can acquire and upgrade, the battle armor form is much more useful in battle than the cyclone could ever hope to be. While the cyclone is equipped with rocket launcher, the accuracy of this weapon, even with the lock-on mechanism, is terrible, thus making it useless.

One of things that I would’ve liked to have been included in the game would be and evasion and crouching ability while in the battle armor form. Sure, the double-boost jump is very efficient when evading attacks, but I still would’ve liked to have a rolling evasion maneuver to use. It’s also disappointing that there is no crouching feature included. It would’ve proven to be very useful during multi-player matches due to the fact that players in any kind of shooter will crouch when sniping opponents. It’s just how things have been established to work over the years.

Grand Adventure
Invasion has the feel of a grand adventure to it. The way this is done, is not only through of the game’s large environments, but by the way everything is streamed together. There aren’t any levels in the game, so each mission you play is reached by traveling to different areas of the game’s world. Does this mean that the game is one massive world like Metroid Prime? Well, no. The game is

Adding to this "epic" feel are the pockets of human civilization left on Earth. Since the atmosphere of the game is a post-apocalyptic one, there’s not much left of the human race on the planet. Helping to show players this is the ability to stroll around the game’s shambled towns to hear the various comments of the game’s NPCs. Most NPC comments made often tell players that these people have much faith in the R.E.F forces from liberating Earth from the Invid. A few others say the exact opposite, and many also tell players that the Invid have made life of Earth depressing and fearful.

Now, the actual missions in the game aren’t too complicated. Most involve following the game’s directional arrow and destroying many of the Invid or Invid humanoids that players come across. There are also many missions in which players must protect fellow soldiers from Invid attacks. And there are even a few on-rails missions which have players manning stationary guns. While a mixed variety of gameplay elements like these aren’t anything new, the way Invasion pulls them off are fairly enjoyable. And to my surprise, Invasion even has some light platforming elements featured in the game. Interestingly, during these platforming elements I had experienced flashbacks to Metroid Prime. Because of the boost jump in included, platforming in the game feels very much like the platform heavy Metroid Prime at times. It’s clear that the gameplay in Invasion has been inspired by games like Metroid Prime and Halo.

The game’s story mode can be completed in full in roughly around six hours on the "normal" difficulty setting. Despite being considered short by today’s standards, the experience is actually very satisfying. The reason for this is that a rather enjoyable story is being told. In addition the game makes players play two parallel paths with two different, yet plot related characters, Locke and Tasha.

Player’s initially start off as Locke, who’s a R.E.F grunt soldier that mysteriously lost his memory. What’s interesting about Locke is that during missions the game’s speed slows down and begins to blur when Locke begins to experience flashbacks of his previous life. Tasha is related to his character in many ways, but to keep things spoiler free, I’ll just leave you with this information. Although, players who haven’t seen the New Generation series of Robotech in full may be a bit lost when attempting to piece together Invasion’s plot. Fans looking to play as the series’ main cast of characters such as Scott Bernard and Lancer may also find it a bit disappointing that no one from the cast is featured in the game, but skins for their cyclone bikes can be found and unlocked over the course of time, allowing them to be used in the game’s multi-player modes.

Invading Online Multi-player
Invasion’s online experience is much better than I had initially thought it would be. It’s a thrilling experience that is extremely enjoyable on the game’s large, multi-tiered multi-player maps. Because of the massive size of the some of game’s maps, you’ll need to use the cyclone to get around, and it’s just extremely thrilling to jump off ramps to great heights and then transforming in mid flight, bucking shots at your opponents below. Of course, there’s also excellent variety in weapons and upgrades available for players all across the maps, including rocket launchers, and even an upgrade that cloaks players, allowing them to sneak up on enemies without being detected. Adding to the enjoyment is a humorous little feature that taunts the ways players get killed. Let’s say a rocket kills you, the game will then show

The play modes presented to players in multi-player are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Protocapture. The first three are pretty self-explanatory, but Protocapture is a multi-player game that consists of two teams and three Protoculture Extractors placed at various locations on each map. The goal is to get your team’s Protoculture stockpile to a certain level before the opposing team can do the same. To do this, you have to locate, activate, and protect each Proto Extractor. The more Extractors you control, the faster you stockpile will rise. From my experience I learned that both Deathmatch modes are extremely enjoyable. The Capture the Flag and Protocapture modes are fun as well, but only half as enjoyable.

However, this does not mean that Invasion’s multi-player is the best thing since CounterStrike or Unreal Championship, because the game needs improvements in many areas. For one, the "stats" system isn’t all that detailed and can even be a bit confusing at times. Also, I’m not too fond of the fact that players are often spawned in the middle of crossfire. I’ve seen many players spawn and get killed that very moment, before they have a chance to even move. It’s also worth mentioning that since it’s very early in the game’s life on retail shelves, there aren’t many online games available for play, but it seems that the guys from Vicious Cycle are being kind enough to create games themselves for players to find and enjoy. From my personal experience, lag hasn’t been much of an issue. I guess you could say that lag is only an issue on servers with lesser integrity.

Cell-Shading No More
Vicious Cycle could’ve easily made Robotech Invasion a cel-shaded title like their previous game, but what ultimately had been decided, according to VC’s Greg Sewart, is that “cel-shading was being done to death at the time,” and to not get lost in the avalanche of cel-shaded games, VC decided to approach the game with a more realistic visual style. In all truth, this “realistic” style is more fitting for the atmosphere of Invasion. The world of the game is dark and gritty, in shambles after decades of war, and I must say that this had been a wise decision because Robotech: Invasion is a very good-looking game.

The game’s environments are huge. Whether you’re in an underground city, swamp, snow-covered forest, or inside an Invid hive, you’ll find yourself in a nicely detailed areas that are interesting to explore because of their unique characteristics. The game’s characters, however, aren’t that great looking. It’s not that the models look awful, but many of NPCs found in the game look alike, and the fact that lips don’t move during in-game cinemas, lessens the visual effect that could’ve been in done otherwise. What’s also commendable about the game visuals are that the textures featured in the game are high in resolution; they look great even when zooming in on them with your sniper rifle. And it’s also impressive that the frame rate, rarely, if ever drops even during the most intense of times.

Is an Original Soundtrack a Good Thing?
Jesper Kyd is being tossed around the gaming industry like he is the best thing when it comes to original game soundtracks. Well, the truth is, he may very well be. His soundtracks to games like Freedom Fighters and Hitman: Contracts are highly acclaimed. Now, why am I mentioning this? Well, if you haven’t caught on, Kyd is the composer of the original tracks featured in Robotech: Invasion, and the soundtrack to Invasion, just like his previous works, is very powerful. It features techno beats and choir hymns in order to deliver an atmosphere filled with dread. Of course, the Robotech themes are still there too, but only a handful of them. As a fan of the series, I would’ve loved to hear more Robotech tunes. Even though I felt Battlecry over-used the themes a bit, I feel as if Invasion doesn’t use them enough.

The sound effects and voice-overs used in the game are also executed to the same degree as the game’s soundtrack. Meaning, that they’re pretty damn good. I’m particularly fond of the sound Cyclones make when they transform, and when boosting. The transformation sounds just like that featured in the original TV show, and the boost is an intense and swelling “SWOOSH” effect that is really cool to hear. There’s also a weapon in the game called a "Pulse Rifle" that I’m quite fond of, both in terms of usefulness and its sound. It’s not something unique, but let me just say that it sounds EXACTLY like the "Charge Beam" from Metroid Prime. However, the game could benefit from a few more effects added here and there. In multi-player modes, for instance, there isn’t much of a noise when getting killed. It’s just a spark and then a fall to the ground, all-occurring silently. As for the voice-overs featured, while it’s cool to hear the voice of the Invid Regis, nothing is overly commendable. Some people may think that the female character Guppy is a bit annoying, but I find that the voice is an excellent choice. It helps give realism to her clumsy character.

Best Robotech Game Ever?
After my experience with Robotech: Battlecry, I knew that I should expect lots of great things from this sequel. Thankfully, not only were my expectations met, but they were surpassed. Robotech: Invasion truly is the best Robotech videogame around. While linear, the pacing of the game is excellent and filled with action. Not to mention, the game’s online multi-player modes are extremely enjoyable. Sure they could be improved, and sure there are few other games available on the Xbox that may be more enjoyable, but the fact of the matter is that Invasion is still incredibly fun on Xbox Live. Most importantly of all, Invasion will not only appeal to Robotech fans, as its predecessor mostly did. This game is a fun experience for all videogame audiences.